YOM YERUSHALAYIM AND THE “CANAISM” OF AN IDEA

Symbols help us identify with society, with our groups of reference, with our family. A free and personal interpretation makes me relate the significance of the shichva of Canaim to the significance that Yerushalayim has for the Jewish people in the modern era.

For many Jews, the creation of the State of Israel has the same historical importance as the creation of a new Temple – that is, as if we are currently living in a time equivalent to the Third Temple. The liberation of the Western Wall and the reunification of Yerushalayim aim to fortify this feeling: Yerushalayim as a symbol of Jewish survival, as the spiritual legacy of the universal message of Judaism, as the walls that symbolize the defense of the supreme values that Judaism offers humanity.

The free interpretation of the Semel of the Shichva of Canaim, and above all the interpretation given to this shichva by the first bogrim of the tnua, lead me to link them to what I previously wrote. The flames which emerge from the corner of the rampart, as a symbol of Jewish wisdom, of its messages and legacy. A symbol of our duty as madrichim to educate in light of this millenary legacy. The wall that protects us and maintains us as a people.

But all of the above must lead us to develop critical thinking regarding these significances. We must ask ourselves the right questions, both regarding Yerushalayim, our education, our contents and what the city represents. And most importantly, we must learn in order to know how to provide the answers, whatever they may be, answers which derive from our worldview, from our set of values.